Tag: dungeon crawl

Mark L. Chance has written an excellent adventure featuring one of my hand drawn maps. “The Tombs of the Whispering Worms” is a descent into madness for Swords & Wizardry or other old school fantasy games. The adventure was recently featured on TSRs blogsite Multiverse, and is available as a free pdf download.

Here’s an image of page 1 (linked to the pdf) and a high resolution unnumbered image of the original map. Hope you enjoy the whispering worms!

Thirteen year old Dungeon Solitaire player August Mericle has played a perfect game of Tomb of Four Kings! That means not just a win, but a 100 point win, with all the treasure in hand as one exits the dungeon. August’s dad said he played several hours a day for about four days before winning the perfect game.

As far as I know, August is the first person ever to win a perfect game. I knew it was possible, and thought it was only a matter of time, so I was super excited to hear about his game. I was also very happy to hear the game had been played by a thirteen year old. My early gaming experiences were one of the inspirations for creating Tomb of Four Kings, so it’s great to be able to share it with the next generation of gamers.

A huge congratulations to August on his game! That’s a photo of the winning layout, with eight turns on the delve, four hit points, and all the treasure. Pretty awesome!

The new Dungeon Solitaire game, Labyrinth of Souls is funded and in production. And as another step to bringing the new game into the world, I am releasing an updated, revised edition of the original Dungeon Solitaire: Tomb of Four Kings! It’s available here as a free download.

There are no changes to the rules, but I clarified a couple rules, corrected typos, improved phrasing, and added suit symbols. Additionally, this new Tomb of Four Kings includes the winning game walkthrough, improved images, and a mention of Labyrinth of Souls in the back.

I will not be deleting the old pdfs, at least not immediately, since other websites may link to them directly. However, if you have links to the Tomb of Four Kings rules, please update those links to the newly revised rules. Or better yet, just link to this post, or to matthewlowes.com/games.

I hope you enjoy the new rules packet. Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions about the rules. Send me your high score, especially if you get a perfect game (4/100). As far as I know, nobody has done it yet. It may be highly improbable, but it should be possible.

There are only three days left in the Dungeon Solitaire: Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter! We have cleared nine stretch goals thanks to 350 backers and over $13,000 in funding so far. The latest stretch goal cleared adds an additional fully illustrated card to the custom tarot deck: The Lich! I’m super excited for this card, for the artwork Josephe creates for it, and for developing the rules that will go along with it. The Lich will be a boss monster, on part with The Dragon, with a special role in the Undead Hordes alternate rules for the game.

We’ve had an absolutely incredible campaign thank to all our wonderful backers, and with three days to go, there is still another stretch goal to reach for. At $14,000 we will add a digital Designer’s Notebook, in which I’ll share all my thoughts about the origins and development of Dungeon Solitaire, and about every aspect of the Labyrinth of Souls game.

With all these stretch goals cleared, all our current backers and everyone who pledges now will be getting a lot. Numerous additional game modes and alternate rules have been added to the rulebook, including a major rules expansion with Campaign Mode. A digital Labyrinth of Souls artbook will be included with all reward levels $15 and up. And all reward levels $5 and up will also receive a free pdf copy of Giant, a giant robot skirmish game that works great as print and play.

Many thanks to all our backers for making this project possible and for making this campaign such a great success! In these final days, you can help us reach that $14,000 stretch goal by spreading the word about Dungeon Solitaire and the Labyrinth of Souls! Share a link on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, or the social media of your choice. All your help is greatly appreciated!

So much has happened I don’t know where to begin. The Dungeon Solitiare, Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter has continued to clear stretch goals and gain backers at an impressive rate. We’ve released new card art for The Moon, and a number of concept sketches for upcoming cards. On Thursday we were chosen as a Kickstarter staff pick and have seen an increase of traffic as a result. We cleared the last of our initial stretch goals at $7500 early Friday and have gained considerable ground since.

Many thanks to everyone who has backed this project already and all who have helped spread the word. Clearing these stretch goals means all my highest hopes for what I wanted to include in the rulebook will now become a reality. It’s been really wonderful to see this level of support and backing. Josephe and I are both looking forward to delivering an exceptional game and gaming experience in the Labyrinth of Souls.

Everyone backing now for at least $5 is going to get not only the core Labyrinth of Souls basic, expert, and advanced game, but also a multitude of alternate and expanded rules added on by our stretch goals, including Campaign Mode! They’re also going to get a free pdf copy of Giant, my giant robot skirmish game that works great for print and play. And everyone who backs at the $15 level and up is going to get at least one custom illustrated Labyrinth of Souls tarot deck.

But there are still 11 day left in the campaign. We think we can get a lot more people in the Labyrinth, and we want to offer another reward to our existing backers. So with this in mind, we’ve added a $10,000 stretch goal: All rewards levels $15 and up will receive a digital art book by Josephe Vandel featuring the Labyrinth of Souls artwork in large format and in all its detailed glory.

In its first week the Dungeon Solitaire, Labyrinth of Souls Kickstarter blew by its base funding goal, and then proceeded to clear two stretch goals. And we just cleared another one! We have released a newly completed image for the Knight of Swords, and made four updates to the Kickstarter. It’s been a whirlwind of activity, and I can’t stress enough how wonderful it has been to see the support and enthusiasm for this game.

Josephe Vandel will be creating all the exclusive art that will go into the cards and the rulebook, and he has been putting an incredible amount of care and detail into each piece he produces. We will be releasing more card art as the campaign progress and as new pieces are completed.

Already we’ve added Two Player mode and Megadungeon mode to the rulebook table of contents. And we just added the Dragon’s Lair, a fast playing version of the game that guarantees a dragon battle every time. The next stretch goal is the Undead Hordes, and there’s more … until we hit Campaign Mode, a major rules expansion, allowing campaigns over multiple dungeon delves.

A huge thanks to everyone who has backed this project already, and to everyone who has helped spread the word about the Kickstarter! Josephe and I are super excited by what we’ve been able to achieve so far, and we couldn’t have done it without you. There are still 21 days left in the campaign, and we are looking forward to clearing more stretch goals, and adding even more great content to the game.

Last summer I wrote and released a little game called Dungeon Solitaire. The original game was called Tomb of Four Kings, and it used a standard deck of playing cards. Over the summer it gained some popularity. It got good reviews, some attention on social media, and I even got some fan mail. All this has been really awesome! And that game is still gaining steam as a free download on this website.

From the beginning though, I had the idea of expanding the game to use a 78 card tarot deck. When I had the opportunity to pair these new rules with an exclusively illustrated dungeon-themed tarot deck, the Labyrinth of Souls was born. This Kickstarter will support the creation of this new expanded Dungeon Solitaire game, with a rulebook and custom deck of cards designed and illustrated by artist, illustrator, and cartographer Josephe Vandel.

Check it out. There are great pledge rewards and stretch goals for backers, and there’s even a video of me talking about the game. I hope you’ll pledge your support, and help spread the word on social media, with your friends and family, and with any fans of gaming or tarot.

A few people have asked for a walkthrough of a game of Dungeon Solitaire, Tomb of Four Kings. Below you will find a linked pdf of a walkthrough of a winning game with some epic battles and dicey encounters. You can even stack a deck and play along if you want. Once I’ve got this better edited I will probably add it to the official rules, but until then it stands on its own as a supplement.

I’ve also started a FAQ text file and will add to it as I receive and answer any questions about the rules. I’ll add both links to the original release post and the games page.

Dungeon Solitaire, Tomb of Four Kings is a fantasy card game designed for a standard deck of playing cards. I’d describe it as somewhere between a traditional solitaire card game and a dungeon crawling solo roleplaying game.

Risk death and doom in a vast dungeon to search for the tomb hordes of four legendary kings. You’ll slay monsters, bypass traps, and bash in stuck doors, all for fotune and glory.

If you have any questions about the rules, don’t hesitate to contact me. Feedback, reviews, and shares on social media are always appreciated. And while you’re here check out my fiction and other games.

Dungeon Solitaire Reviews

"Since its release, I've been playing game after game when I can find the time, and this solo card game is exactly what I tried cobbling together years ago. It's an amazing game ..." --Tim Snider, The Savage Afterworld

"The best thing going for DS-LoS is that it's a lot of fun. If the Labyrinth of Souls were only a Tarot deck, it'd still be great, but what really pushes it over the top is that the game for which the deck was made is terrific fun." --James Bulls, Left Hand Tarot

"Dungeon Solitaire is incredibly rich and thought-provoking. This game takes you by surprise." --Geoffrey Greer, Past Go Gaming

We all have seen a few experiments with D&D and poker cards, but this is the one that finally pulls it off. Smart, fast, elegant, easy to learn and a lot of fun. Absolutely recommended! --Ronnie Rocket, Google+

"It is called Dungeon Solitaire ... and it is brilliant." --John Payne, Sycarion Diversions